BEFORE ‘DEEWANGI DEEWANGI’…

…there was ‘John Jaani Janardhan’, from ‘Naseeb’ (1981). For ‘John Jaani Janardhan’ Manmohan Desai (who also directed ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’), managed to assemble a small galaxy of stars for a fun music-and-dance number. He didn’t round up quite as many stars for the number as Farah Khan did for Om Shanti Om’s ‘Deewangi Deewangi’, but he did manage to reel in some pretty impressive fish. There was the iconic Raj Kapoor, along with his brother Shammi, and his son Randhir. There was my beloved Dharmendra, Simi Garewal, a very cute Sharmila Tagore, Mala Sinha, Vijay Arora, Dev Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Bindu and Rakesh Roshan (back in his acting days), along with some lesser-known stars (who knew there was a Simple Kapadia? Dimple I know, but Simple?). And of course there was Amitabh Bachchan, playing the character of the song’s title, John Jaani Janardhan.

I love this number – I especially love the end of the song where the stars all break into a freestyle dance… Raj moves into a graceful waltz, the ladies shimmy prettily, and Dharmendra does this really bad but oh-so-cute strut thingy – he looks like a total wally, but a cute one. Mr. Bachchan is great in this song – he makes it such OTT and silly fun, just as much fun as his equally memorable ‘My Name is Anthony Gonsalves’ from ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’.

Unlike ‘John Jaani Janardhan’, though, the rest of ‘Naseeb’ does not quite equal the superb craziness of its 1977 predecessor, ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’. The gags are not quite as funny, the structure of the film is not quite as tight, a few parts of the plot fall a bit flat, and it doesn’t have quite as much overall charm. But it’s a fine and thoroughly engaging masala film nonetheless, with a fabulous, bubbly and fun soundtrack by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. I had lots and lots of fun with ‘Naseeb’ – I found it really entertaining.

There are loads (as in LOADS) of similarities between ‘Naseeb’ and ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ – I’ve already mentioned the fact that in both films Amitabh Bachchan is the star of a song that’s all about the character he plays in the film. Also, in both films there’s a drunken monologue by Amit ji (in AAA, he speaks to his reflection in the mirror, in ‘Naseeb’ he speaks to a bottle – the monologue in AAA was way funnier).

Both films explore the theme of unity among three religions – Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. This is evident in Bachchan’s character’s name, John Jaani Janardhan (‘Johnny’ for short). It’s also evident in the insignia on the three rings worn by Johnny’s father, Namdev, played excellently by the actor I love to call the Pran-tastic one, whom I always just adore watching for his sheer and utter… camp-ness. The religious tolerance theme is also reflected in the role of the kindly Mrs. Gomes in the lives of Johnny and his brother Sunny (who is played by an adorable and simply on-point Rishi Kapoor – I am very much in the minority on this one, I know, but I think he’s a wonderful actor – the mid-to-late ’80s were not at all kind to him, but at the time of this film I think he was at the top of his game – but I digress). It’s also evident in the relationships of the film, both ‘fraternal’ and romantic; as well as (repeatedly) the imagery and sets.

The similarities between ‘Naseeb’ and AAA go on and on…there are three male leads in both films, and in both films the three male leads must find and win their respective lady-loves. In both films, there are storylines involving past and continuing battles among the fathers of the three male leads, and in both films the fathers are separated from their sons…. And of course, both films share some of the same cast… Amitabh Bachchan, Pran and Rishi Kapoor are back for ‘Naseeb’. Even the funny character called ‘Zebesko’ is back!

IMDB tells me that Desai had hoped to cast Vinod Khanna, the third member of the AAA trio, in ‘Naseeb’, as Johnny’s best friend Vicky. Khanna wasn’t making films at the time, though – so the role of Vicky went to Shatrughan Sinha, whom I think did a good job. His character was a bit ridiculous, but hey, a lot about this film (and this is another similarity between it and AAA) is very ridiculous indeed. Ridiculous… but such fun.

Like the character of ‘Don’, played by an impeccably-coiffed but very evil Amrish Puri. Watching ‘Naseeb’ reminded me that there’ll simply never be another Amrish Puri – who else could play evil so gleefully and with such stylish abandon? I thought this line was funny, especially in view of Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Don’, which was released three years before ‘Naseeb’.

Speaking of movie references, there are loads in ‘Naseeb’, and trying to spot them was one of the fun things about the film. Desai directed the classic film ‘Dharam Veer’ (starring Dharmendra) in 1977, and it’s referenced in ‘Naseeb’ – during the song ‘John Jaani Janardhan’. There are also some lovely references to Raj Kapoor’s classic film ‘Awaara’; from the set of the song ‘Chal Mere Bhai’ (with Amit ji and Raj Kapoor), which is reminiscent both of the opening credits of ‘Awaara’ and the song ‘Awaara Hoon’, to the Charlie Chaplin costume worn by Rishi, Raj’s son, in the show-stopping number ‘Rang Jamaye Jamake’ (which is reminiscent of the excellent number ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ from AAA). I noticed one other filmi reference that escapes me right now (I think it might have been a reference by Rishi's character to ‘Mera Naam Joker’), and there may have been others that went over my head on this viewing…

The story of the film is fun and pretty straightforward (in a very roundabout way) – a lot the script makes absolutely no sense or stretches the bounds of ‘coincidence’ (and credulity) to the point where it’s completely absurd, but then that’s unsurprising for a film like this one. It’s meant to be ridiculous, over the top and little nonsensical – and it all works, thanks to the performances. But back to the story – basically, the entire drama begins over a lottery ticket that four friends agree to share… greed and selfish interest intrude, and two of the four friends are cheated out of their rightful winnings…. Naturally, years later, the opportunity to gain revenge arises…

‘Naseeb’ has a little bit of everything. Unlike AAA, there is loads of action in the film, with lots of memorable baddies, and the fight scenes are very stylish, detailed and well-choreographed – you can tell that a lot of work went into putting the sequences together. It’s obvious that this film was made on what must have been a mammoth budget for that time – of course the special effects and stunts look a bit crude now, but they were really impressive for the time at which the film was made. But along with the slick action, there’s also a lot of random weirdness and goofiness (which I loved); from the skilfully-staged fencing in Don’s lair, to the hilarious revolving restaurant (which reminded me of Pushp Villa in Agra), to Namdev’s spiffy white suit worn with MASSIVE black gloves, to the very, very disturbing salute given by the criminals’ lackeys, to Don’s straight-backed piano-playing skills.. and just when you’ve seen every bit of weirdness one film could possibly offer, out pop Eliza Doolittle (in the outfit made famous by Audrey Hepburn in ‘My Fair Lady’) and Charlie Chaplin!

Can I just say how much I loved Hema Malini in this movie? How gorgeous is she? She looked so beautiful – I know she always does, but sometimes I was just gobsmacked, watching her in this film. And apart from looking lovely, her portrayal of the strong, spunky, vibrant and independent Asha is absolutely spot-on for me – I loved her performance in this film. She was just excellent.

One thing I really liked about ‘Naseeb’, actually, is the ‘kickass-ness’ of the female co-stars. Along with Hema ji, who plays Johnny’s love-interest Asha; the beautiful Kimi plays Sunny’s love interest Kim, while the lovely Reena Roy plays the somewhat tragic Julie, Vicky’s love interest (I wasn’t at all fond of the resolution of the Vicky/Julie storyline – not the outcome but the way they got there – but I guess that’s Bollywood for you). Anyway, as I was saying, I loved how ‘un-helpless’ and proactive the female leads were – there’s nothing hotter than three beautiful ladies flying through a window on a motorbike to save their men. Hot stuff, I tell you. I absolutely loved that moment.

Watching Amitabh Bachchan opposite Hema ji in this film helped me understand why she came in third in my recent Amitabh leading-lady poll. They are so great together in this film – lively, fun, bold, interesting… great chemistry. Totally loved them together.

So ‘Naseeb’ was great fun. Based on its star cast (apart from the special appearances in ‘John Jaani Janardhan’ and the lead roles, there’s also Amjad Khan, Shakti Kapoor, Om Shivpuri, and others) and the fact that it was made by Manmohan Desai, I had expected it to be a good watch, and it certainly was…

…unlike another film I recently watched…in theory it looked great… in the lead roles, there were three actors whose work I usually love– Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Sharmila Tagore. The film was scripted by the brilliant Gulzar, who is probably my favourite Hindi-film writer (for movie scripts as well as song lyrics)… but despite all that… well, I guess that’s a story for another day. I’ll be back to talk about that film soon… but (hopefully) before then I’ll (finally) be posting Bollywood-related pictures and commentary from my trip to India...

Couldn't resist one more random pic of the very pretty Hema Malini...

‘TAAL’, ‘CHORI CHORI’ AND ‘PYAR KIYA TO DARNA KYA’

There’s been quite a bit of activity in my Bollyworld of recent. I recently watched 3 movies, to be discussed in the lengthy post below. I also saw ‘Just Married’ at the cinema yesterday, to be discussed in my Esha Deol post ('Dharam’s Children' Pt.III), whenever I get round to it. And I have quite a few movies to look forward to in the coming weeks. Yum.

‘TAAL’

I watched ‘Taal’ over the weekend. I like when you can tell that a writer/director has made a film close to his/her heart. With ‘Taal’, Subhash Ghai set out to make a modern story with a strong musical element. The musical element, provided by A. R. Rahman, is indeed strong, with a soundtrack that’s quite varied and a bit adventurous. While I didn’t like every single song, I enjoyed most of them, especially ‘Ishq Bina Kya’, sung with beautiful, emotional nuance by Alka Yagnik. I wasn’t surprised to discover that A. R. Rahman and Alka both won Filmfare awards for this film. In line with his focus on the power of music, Subhash Ghai also gives himself a cute little cameo singing along to his Walkman in a market.

As far as the story goes, it’s nothing ground-breaking. A rich boy named Manav (played by Akshaye Khanna), on a visit to Chamba, falls for a lowly village damsel named Manasi (or Mansi, played by Aishwarya Rai), and she (after a little resistance) returns his affections. When Manasi’s father, a renowned folk singer named Tarababu (played by Alok Nath) finds out, he tries to bring the affair into the open (and to forge suitable family ties) by visiting Manav’s father (played by Amrish Puri), who has lately become a friend. Things don’t go very well during the visit, and Manasi and her father are despondent until they meet a famous pop singer named Vikrant (played by Anil Kapoor), who gives Manasi a shot at fame and a new lease of life. But Manav still wants Manasi, and isn’t prepared to take ‘no’ for an answer (in fact his unshakeable confidence that he will get his Manasi back is a bit weird and annoying).

While the story is nothing new, I like the way it was told. I enjoyed the beautiful scenic shots in Chamba, and I thought the song picturisations were very lovely. As mentioned above, the music is charming, and some of the choreography is very good (some of it is dodgy). While the film as a whole is a bit uneven, with some really good scenes and some bits that were just out of place, I enjoyed the way it was wrapped up. I liked the emphasis on relationships, and the fact that all the relationships in the film got some attention and resolution, from the obvious (Manav and Manasi, Tarababu and Manav’s father), to those that would typically be considered less significant (Manav and Vikrant, Manav and his father, Manasi and Vikrant).

I thought the performances were quite strong. Akshaye Khanna hands in an understated and quite mature performance, and although I found his character very annoying in some parts of the film, I think Akshaye handled him quite well. He lets you see the courage, strength and confidence of the character, although some of that I felt was a bit questionable. He is also quite sweet in some scenes, especially with Ash.

I loved Aishwarya in the first half of the film – or perhaps I should say I loved what Ghai did with her (and the character of Manasi) in the first half. It was an unusual treatment – Ash (nicely stripped down, with wavy, simple hair and little make up) plays an innocent girl becoming aware of herself, the opposite sex (in the person of Manav) and most interestingly, her power over the opposite sex. I like that Manasi was depicted as fighting a battle she not only did not want to win, but one she knew she would eventually rejoice over losing. Ash plays this Manasi well, with a sexual awareness, sensuousness and intensity that is compelling, yet simple and without guile. The second, post-fame and success, meek and a bit majboor, burdened with love and divided loyalties, Manasi we meet in the second half of ‘Taal’, I found much less interesting, because she was someone I’ve seen many times before.

Alok Nath is good with these kinds of roles, and ‘Taal’ is no exception. I especially liked him and Ash in the scene at Manav’s home in Bombay (it was a bit of a stretch, though – I think realistically, most people would have just upped and left after a while). Amrish Puri is very good in his role as well. And there is a sweet little pooch called Brownie who had no wondrous abilities and was just so cute.

But for me, the standout performance in this film is by Anil Kapoor, with a gorgeous, meaty comic role (he won a Filmfare award for it). His character, Vikrant Kapur, is self-consciously over-the-top and dramatic, but also intelligent and even a bit sensitive. Vikrant is a showman, constantly playing ‘pop star’, surrounded by lots of spandex-clad dancers who just never seem to stop dancing and just seem kinda trippy. He even has his dancers on the go when he’s recording songs in the studio. He’s really crazy (his scene expounding his ‘7 Commandments’ is priceless comedy), but somehow you don’t find him annoying or grating (at least, I didn’t). Even when he starts acting out of character (as he does later in the film), he does a funny little scene to remind you he’s still the wacky Vikrant you’ve come to like. And in the midst of all the craziness, there’s a depth to his character that comes through here and there.

This scene was hilarious: 'Arrest him!' 'No, why should I?' 'Arrest him!' 'No!' 'Then dance!' Loved it...

All-in-all, I liked ‘Taal’. Not sure if I’d like to watch it again, but I enjoyed it very much and think Ghai and his team did a good job.

‘CHORI CHORI’

This was such a chore to watch. I just found it flat and bland, there was nothing particularly cute, or sweet, or endearing, or enjoyable about it. It was just a load of ‘blah’ for me. And it’s a bit perplexing for me because the film stars two of my favourite Bollywood actors, Rani Mukerji and Ajay ‘the hotness’ Devgan. I so wanted to like their performances, to enjoy the movie, but it just wasn’t happening.

Let’s start with the obvious – the tagline for this movie is ‘Everyone falls in love’. It should’ve been ‘Everyone falls in love except the stars of this movie’. I did not believe that they fell in love, I could not relate to their angst, torment and emotion, there was less than zero chemistry between them, and it was just… not good. And then the story – it wasn’t charming, or sweet, or witty – although it was obviously trying to be. It wasn’t even offbeat, edgy, black comedy – which I think it was also trying to be. It was just blah – a bit annoying, if anything.

I didn’t like the characters – Rani’s character is meant to be street-smart and sharp, yet somehow likeable (I think). I didn’t feel any of it – I just thought she was such a big fat liar and kept lying with an amazing casualness and ease which I found somewhat appalling. Maybe I need to loosen up, but I didn’t like her at all. Ajay’s character was a big fat bore and just seemed empty, uncaring, selfish and uninteresting – even his excitement and passion was half-hearted. The depiction of Ajay’s family is no more than an unwieldy caricature, and Ajay’s ex, played by Sonali Bendre, really does nothing except look sad/regretful.

The music in the film is not particularly great either. In fact, there’s nothing particularly great about this film. It looks pretty enough, but it lacks heart and substance. And it’s sad, because it has potential (I guess). And because I’m always searching for slightly sensational theories to back up observed phenomena, perhaps the biggest lesson of ‘Chori Chori’ is: never make a romantic movie opposite your cousin’s husband, especially when you and said cousin don’t get on well enough to laugh over a few drinks at the movie launch party.

‘PYAAR KIYA TO DARNA KYA’ (PKTDK)

Once upon a time I tried to watch this film – but then a few minutes into it, a shirtless guitar-playing Salman Khan leapt out at me and I was exasperated. I think I was in one of those I-don’t-want-no-crap moods that day – I skimmed over a few scenes and then just gave up. Looking back, I think I had just suffered through Salman’s ‘Lucky – No Time for Love’, which I absolutely hated – so my Salman tolerance-level must’ve been at an all-time low. Recently, I got a chance to borrow a few DVDs from a fellow Bollywood fan, and there it was in her collection – PKTDK. I thought to myself, why not give it another try? At the very least, you’ll be able to give your ‘slacking’ Dharmendra movie list a much-needed boost. I’m glad I did.

PKTDK, like ‘Taal’, is basically a rich boy (played by Salman) meets and falls in love with lowly girl (played by Kajol) movie. However, on this occasion, the major obstacle to the lovers’ bliss is Kajol’s over-protective and rather violent bhaiyya (played by Arbaaz Khan), who takes fierce delight in battering all of Kajol’s prospects. Salman does not help his case by making a terrible first impression on bhaiyya, and also by being a young, happy-go-lucky kinda fella. Despite his best efforts, bhaiyya remains stubbornly unimpressed. Can’t believe I haven’t mentioned my darling Dharmendra yet, who plays Kajol’s wise and strong chachu, who has looked after her and her brother since the loss of their parents. To cut a long story short, obviously there is much drama but love prevails at the end because the protagonists (Salman in particular) are determined to take risks in the name of love, and not to give way to their fears (hence the title).

I really enjoyed this movie – it was actually fun and kinda sweet. Kajol and Salman both did well, and I think they made a nice couple, surprisingly. The songs are mostly cute. There’s a scene with ‘duplicates’ of Bollywood stars that’s really quite funny. And there are quite a few hilarious subtitles, some of which are showcased below (we always love that!)

Don't know why I love this... I just do.

'Wed me thee'?? If you're going for the Shakespearean approach to subtitling (nothing wrong with that, it's always fun), at least do it right and say 'wed thee me'...

And of course, it was so great to see my Dharmendra kicking bad guys’ behinds and being all fatherly and sweet. And his voice still does ‘it’ for me. If I have any complaints about Dharam in this film, they are (a) it would have been nice to see more of him; (b) his dubbing skills seemed a bit off – there was sometimes a glaring lack of sync – like once his lips said ‘strong boy lakhta hai’, but his voice said ‘he’s a strong boy’ (I think I'm nit-picking); and (c) there were a few ‘voiceless’ scenes where they deliberately don’t let you hear the character’s voices – and I would've liked to hear his. Anyway, whatever, I don’t care enough about this to bother about it much. It was just nice to see him again.

But the craziest thing about watching PKTDK was the realisation that I AM CHANGING (and not in a cute, inspirational I’m-getting-stronger-and-wiser Effie-White-in-Dreamgirls way either). No – I am changing: from a girl who didn’t like Salman at all, to one whose Salman tolerance-level is currently rather high! I mean, the shirtless scene didn’t bother me that much this time. I didn’t wince much at his silly, goofy wiggling-his-bumbum scenes. I wasn’t constantly rolling my eyes at his frequent corniness – OMG! I think he just might be (gasp!) growing on me. I find this very, very, very disturbing.